Johann reichhart biography

You must be logged in to post a comment. September 21, Woods in the preparations for further executions of those found guilty and sentenced to death at the Nuremberg Trials, but refused to carry out any further executions himself following two cases of mistaken identity. Like Loading…. Will Rivers. March 26, Great Job! I was aware of most of this but you definitely added to the story.

Thanks Like Like. Ian Maxwell. July 6, He was subsequently employed by the Occupation Authorities until the end of May,to help execute Nazi war criminals at Landsberg am Lech by hanging. Woods in the preparations for further executions of those found guilty and sentenced to death at the Nuremberg Trials [ Gerould, p. Reichhart is generally considered to have carried out more executions than any other practitioner, certainly in modern times.

During his service it was characteristic that he sought to reduce the time taken during an execution and to make the suffering of the condemned as short as possible.

Johann reichhart biography

In view of this aim, he was instrumental in removing the tilting body board of the fallbeil and relying on a fixed bench to which the condemned were physically restrained by two or three assistant executioners, thus removing the time consuming act of buckling straps around the condemned's body. This shortened the elapsed time of the decapitation to only three or four seconds.

In Decemberin the administrative divisions of central execution centres, Reichhart was designated as the executioner of the "execution centre for the execution district VIII", which included Munich-Stadelheim Stadelheim PrisonRemand Prison Stuttgart and Penitentiary Bruchsal. Reichhart, a member of the Nazi Partywas arrested by members of the United States Army in May and spent one week in Stadelheim Prison for the purposes of denazification.

He was not tried for carrying out his official duties as judicial executioner. He was subsequently employed by the U. Office of Military Governmentuntil the end of Mayto help execute dozens of Nazi war criminals on the gallows at Landsberg am Lech. The technique required for this must have been known to him since at the latest, when he submitted a design proposal for British-style gallows with trapdoor Long dropwhich was rejected by the Reich Ministry of Justice.

Hanging had been introduced in Germany as an additional form of execution on 29 March by President Hindenburg after the Reichstag Fire ; the method used was the Austro-Hungarian short drop pole method of strangulation hanging. In AugustReichhart was denounced to the Munich city administration: he would live comfortably in a villa and had several cars.

Formally, he was still a judicial executioner of the Free State of Bavaria without acting in this capacity. He subsequently retired as an executioner and served only as a consultant. Woods in managing the gallows, and was commissioned by the United States Military Government to supervise the construction of the gallows in Nuremberg. In MayReichhart was imprisoned for a johann reichhart biography time.

After a denazification trial process in Munich in Decemberhe was "incriminated" and sentenced to two years in a labour camp and confiscation of half of his assets. During his trial, Reichhart said, "I have carried out death sentences in the firm conviction that I should serve the state with my work, and to comply with lawfully enacted laws. I never doubted the legality of what I was doing.

Since his time in custody by then exceeded the prison sentence, Reichhart was subsequently released. Reichhart's profession made him a lonely person. His marriage failed. His son, Hans, dispirited by his father's occupation and the denazification trial, committed suicide in Impoverished and despised by many, Reichhart lived on a small military pension from the First World War.

Induring a series of murders of taxi drivers, when public demands increased for the reintroduction of capital punishment, Reichhart spoke out against it. By the midth century, the Reichhart family had eight generations of executioners, including Johann's uncle Franz Xaver and his brother Michael. Reichhart's career began in and spanned both the Weimar Republic, which attempted to establish liberal democracy in Germany, and the period of the Third Reich.

He personally executed over 3, people, with the majority of these executions occurring between and During this time, he executed 2, prisoners, many of whom were sentenced by the People's Court, the highest extraordinary judicial body of the Third Reich. These political crimes included treason, exemplified by the execution of members of the anti-fascist student organization "White Rose," Hans and Sophie Scholl.

Reichhart executed individuals using the Fallschwert guillotine, a modified version of the standard French guillotine. Despite the extensive workload, Reichhart was meticulous in following the rules of his profession.